This article describes the two types of reasoning in fraction conceptions that students often use, "gap" and "missing piece," and one that the authors aspire their students to reach, "residual." Each of these types of reasoning are underpinned by a different conception of fractions. Students who use "gap…

The Common Core has emphasized reading for comprehension, including making inferences. However, little is known about the instructional materials included in core literacy programs for teaching inferences. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of background, anaphoric, predictive, and retrospective inferences in instructional…

Visual representations and manipulatives are a highly advocated mathematical tool for the teaching and learning of multiplication and division. Although there is some prior research on elementary teachers' general use of manipulatives and visual representations, there is little to no specific focus on use of such representations on a specific…

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSS-M) aim to engage students in complex mathematical practices, including modeling, reasoning, and argumentation. Currently, little is known about how teachers' daily instruction supports these practices. This study draws upon data from daily logs completed by third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade…

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) (CCSSI 2010) outlines ambitious goals for fraction learning, starting in third grade, that include the use of the number line model. Understanding and constructing fractions on a number line are particularly complex tasks. The current work of the authors centers on ways to successfully…

International rankings show children in the United States perform well below average in mathematics. There are also large mathematics achievement gaps between children of lower- and higher-socioeconomic status. As today's teachers face these challenges, they are also faced with the pressures of sweeping educational reforms that arrived with the…

A fundamental claim for Common Core State Standards (CCSS)-aligned assessments is that they will lead to better teaching practices. The purpose of this study is to seek evidence in support of this claim by surveying teachers about their instructional practices, test preparation strategies, and test score use both before and after the introduction…

The diet of many students consists of on-the-go processed food. As part of a larger school garden project, the authors wanted students to consider the relevance of plants in their own lives, both as food sources for us and for the animals that we eat. In this article, they present a mini-unit they taught in a third-grade classroom that helped…

During the past few years, several of the authors have incorporated student problem posing as a regular instructional feature in their classrooms. When they offer their students the opportunity to construct their own problems, particularly during the course of an entire school year, they create many novel tasks. Student-created tasks not only…

During inquiry investigations with third graders, the authors urge their students not to just make observations but also to record them. Inspired by Joel Fleishman's "A Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices" (1988), the authors developed an activity that increases students' motivation to record accurate and detailed observations. This…

The educational shift to the common core requires educators to increase the amount of informational text that is used within their classroom. The struggle for whole group use of informational text related to units of study proved to be challenging for teachers at the study site. Guided by constructivist theory that states learners must have the…

Many people would agree the creative arts are essential for children's education and development. For years, the creative arts were integrated into classroom learning units, especially in the language arts, by using drama, music, and drawing; this was considered good teaching. In this study we examined whether contracted curricula designed for…

If you are a teacher of grades K-6, you may be asking, "Should I teach grammar in my classroom on a daily basis? How would I go about doing this? And how can I teach grammar so it isn't boring to my kids?" In "Grammar Matters," Lynne Dorfman and Diane Dougherty answer these questions and more. Using mentor texts as the…

Some statisticians have pointed out that the field of statistics essentially exists to study the variability seen in everyday life. Because variability is so foundational, the "Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education" (GAISE 2007), published by the American Statistical Association (ASA), recommend that teachers…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the implementation of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) as a professional development model effective in altering teachers' perceptions of their knowledge and skill in teaching developmental writing in grades K-3. This research is necessary to examine how offering teachers…